Day Two
by Kioni-chan
Summary: Nero has been staying at Devil May Cry for almost two days. Dante realizes he's not awake and makes a promise to someone, but it isn't the kid. First-person POV


DMC fic! Woo!

ONWARD!

I've been staying at Devil May Cry for almost two days now. I'm not sure why I just walked out of Fortuna, but I did. I didn't even tell Kyrie where I was going She's probably worried. I should have at least said goodbye…

There's a clock ticking somewhere in another room. For some reason I grin to myself and wonder if Dante can even tell time. He just doesn't seem like that kind of guy…

I roll over on the couch so I'm laying on my back and stare at the ceiling. There's a pizza box up there somehow. I don't question it; I just laugh and cover my eyes with my right hand.

The demon arm is glowing again. I peer through my fingers and everything is cast in an orange glow. Sometimes the Devil Bringer responds to my will and sometimes it doesn't. Tonight isn't so bad.

A noise upstairs tells me that Dante is awake. I shift again so that I'm laying on my side, facing the room. The Red Queen and Blue Rose are close by, close enough that I can grab them if I need to.

"You're still awake kid?" a voice asks from the bottom of the stairs. I glance that way to see Dante standing there in a pair of loose jeans. No shirt though, as usual. I shrug a little and sit up. It must be late, or rather, really early.

"I can't really sleep," I reply as the demon slayer walks across the room. His bare feet don't make any noise on the floor. "Restless…"

"Are you even tired?" Dante questions. For some reason that throws me. It's like he's in my head. Or maybe I'm just imagining it.

"Not… really…" I say slowly. It might be my imagination but I think I see concern crease across his brows. Before I can properly identify it, it's gone. My eyes are on the floor.

"You hungry kid?"

I look up, and hide a shudder that trembles up my spine. I don't know what it is about the way he says "kid," but it sends a feeling down my back that I can't explain. I can't even tell if it's anger or something else.

"Not really," I sigh. Dante flops on the couch beside me and I scoot over a bit to give him more room.

"I don't bite," he assures me. I shrug a little and lean back before blurting a question about the pizza box on the ceiling.

Dante looks at me like I've grown an extra arm or something before glancing up and cracking into laughter.

"Aw man! I forgot about that!" he chuckles as he wipes tears of amusement from his eyes. "What a night…"

I never learn what happened. Dante is too busy remembering himself to tell me and the curiosity is gone. Whatever it is I'm sure it's stupid. Probably a drunken party gone wrong. I don't even want to know anymore.

Dante is calming down now and I can tell he's going to ask a question by the way he's breathing. I've gone a lot of my life avoiding questions, so I'm pretty good at searching them out.

"How'd you come about having a demonic arm?"

He's the only person to ask me that. Even after Kyrie found out she didn't ask. I shift on the couch and fight with myself as to whether or not I should answer.

Before I can even finish my inner struggle I feel teeth on my right shoulder. I let out a start as a tingling sensation shoots down my arm and fills my fingers. Dante is leaning over me and I can feel his demon fangs sinking into the glowing flesh, and there's pain but I hardly notice it. I'm a little preoccupied with being used as a chew toy!

"Dante…!" I gasp as I try to push him away. His teeth pull out of my flesh and a hand closes over my mouth.

"Shut up kind, and hold still," he hisses in my ear. My arm is getting hot and blood is trickling down my bare chest. I find myself growling in a voice that isn't quite my own. It's deeper and garbled and I don't think it's from the pain.

I can feel Dante's fingers lace through mine, but he only does it because I've started thrashing. Something inside me no longer wants to be touched. The shudder that keeps running down my spine is now, without a doubt, one of anger. He has no right to touch me!

My hands are on Dante's shoulders, trying to shove him away as his fingers are digging into the gap he's created at my shoulder. The deeper he goes the more I can feel my control slipping. The hulking presence behind me is practically visible.

Because Dante is holding my twisting arm back while fingering through a bloody gap I have the opportunity to scream. And I do until I feel the quick bout of terror that comes before something demonic presence takes forward. It's like Devil Trigger, only I'm not a demon.

I know the figure behind me is visible now because Dante is staring at him. The pain in my shoulder has melted away and the bloody mess is healing over. Whatever gave me my arm doesn't like pain.

"There you are," Dante breathes in a voice that almost sounds relieved. My right hand lifts up to stroke his cheek and he smiles almost fondly. I want t object, to scream out and push him away, but I can't. My body won't respond to my will.

"I know you're struggling kid," Dante admits. "But I needed to see him… I needed to make sure he was okay…"

My hand drops from his cheek and the heat is drifting form my arm. I can feel the control coming back into my mind.

"I'll get you back… I promise…" Dante whispers. I nod without knowing what I'm acknowledging and then fall back on the couch. I've got complete control again, but I'm exhausted.

"What… was that?" I ask, my eyes on that pizza box again. Dante shifts and I get the impression that he's uncomfortable. I would be too if I was sitting next to someone that I had just attacked.

"I'm sorry Nero," he apologizes. I can't remember the last time he used my name. Not without some jibe at my sexuality at least. It throws me a bit, kind of like the question about my arm. It just isn't like him. It's not really like anyone at all.

"Ah…"

I can't form words. Either I'm too surprised by his apology or I'm still raging from his attack. Maybe a little of both.

Dante stands from the couch and heads to the stairs. I just watch him go without a word. After a while a door closes upstairs which means Dante has gone back to his room.

There's a clock ticking somewhere in another room. For some reason I grin to myself and wonder if Dante can even tell time. He just doesn't seem like that kind of guy.

I've been staying at Devil May Cry for almost two days now.

-FIN-


End file.
